Paradise Among the Stars
by wingsofseyfert12
Summary: All he saw scattered about the stars were the ruins of Paradise drifting across the void. Link Meier knew that this was the end. What he didn't know was that he had unexpected company; one which sought to postpone their hour of reckoning no matter what the cost.


Disclaimer: All rights to the name "Vampire Hunter D" and "Karin" belong solely to their respective creators. I neither own this franchise nor do I profit from the writing of this story.

Author's Note: Well I should be writing other things but I felt like writing this short one shot. Anyway enjoy.

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Why was it that their love had been doomed? It was as if the very Gods had conspired against them. That their love was so forbidden and heretical that the powers that be sought to throw every obstacle they had to prevent them realizing their happiness? What in the world did they deserve to suffer the damning fate which they were cursed for eternity?

Link Meir never asked to be born a vampire.

He did not ask to have the insatiable appetite for human blood. For the powers that were afforded him in the shadow of the sun's light, nor did he ask for this everlasting life which brought his existence to a deathly crawl. Every day never had anymore meaning. They were a blur often forgotten and never to be recollected again. In the depths of his dark castle where he brooded alone Link Meir often wondered why he was born the way he was.

This cursed existence was something he would never wish on his most hated of enemies. Certainly not with humans.

In a way he envied them.

The existence of a human was so short that everyday was precious for them. That they were able to experience life at the fullest and, when the time came for them to die of natural causes, they would sigh in content knowing that they had lived everyday to the fullest. Link Meir had stopped caring about everyday existence for so long that he could hardly remember when the last time he had cared about anything. Why bother? He would only watch and wonder why he even bothered to care about someone when he saw their existence wither away, turning what had once been a strong person into a decrypt, senile mess. How could he stand to see that?

He had tried to care about humans he found it a hopeless venture. Their existence was so brief and yet their deaths had brought up such pain. In fact he remembered of a famous vampire long, long ago who had fallen for a human man. A vampire bounty hunter's son for that matter.

It was a love doomed from the beginning. Their love had come at a time when vampires were persecuted left and right. They had no rights nor any means to defend themselves. Proclaim peace and they shot you where you stood before driving a wooden stake through your hearts. Defend yourself and kill someone and all of all sudden you were a crazy beast that needed to be put down.

Humans were so judgmental and short sided. It confounded Link Meir, astonished him, that such short-sighted creatures could actually outlive their race. The race that had existed for millenia as just sheep so that vampires could hunt and gather were now going to become the dominant species on the planet? How laughable, how pitiful!

Was God, if He existed, intend for this to happen? To give HIS blessing on such a flawed species? For what? A hopeless attempt to civilize humanity? Link Meir had to grin at that. It turned out that what happened to be a nothing more than a side experiment to bring civility to a race short sighted creatures had now attained God's undisputed attention. As such all threats to this flawed, stupid species were to be exterminated no matter what the cost.

Elda Marker.

Yes, that was her name now that Link Meir thought about it. She was already old when he had first heard of her. At least three centuries and he only a young vampire lord scarcely past a century old at the time. Yet the story of the doomed love between Marker and Sinclair was very famous.

In the end it was told that Sinclair attempted to murder Elda Marker after an act of betrayal. It was a miracle that he had missed his opportunity and struck Elda on her sternum instead of her heart. Was it the last vestiges of his love of Elda that stayed his hand? Link Meir wasn't sure but he knew this much. Nothing could come out of a union between a human and vampire. Humans would instantly banish a human who had fallen in love with a vampire. And the vampires? They would use every opportunity to devour your loved one and remind you of your folly. That they were sparing you a lifetime of suffering and pain by exterminating the threat early. Pretty words when all they cared about was hurting you as much as they could for even daring having pity on such a shortsighted species.

Link Meir, in his days of youth, would scoff at those who had fallen with humans. Elda Marker was a fool and her disappearance wasn't surprising. She chose to place her hope in an irredeemable species and got betrayed in the end. For Link Meir his stance with humans was very clear. He did not hate them but he did regard them as far beneath him. Nothing more than a meal when at most wanted.

So how was it that he fallen in love with Charlotte Elbourne?

It was disgraceful to both his pride and dignity. He, consorting with a human female?

Yet the hold she held over his heart from the moment he laid eyes on her was absolute. More powerful than the strongest enchantment made by vampire sorceresses. He was blind to everything else but her. She was his everything. The one, tiny glimmer of hope that humanity was not totally lost. That here was this human woman who dared to break the chains that she was bound to since the day of her birth. The one human that seemed to have genuine discernment.

It was rare that any of the human race would produce such a pure person that cared nothing for what race, religion or occupation you were. That she loved you for the person you were. Charlotte did not seem him as a monstrous vampire. She saw the one person whom she loved with all her heart.

Was this the spell that Elda Marker had fallen for so long ago? If so was this woman going to betray him? Have him hand her his heart before throwing on the ground and crushing it? Would he suffer that same fate?

When he had Charlotte on his side he always remained somewhat shielded around her. He did not fully trust her despite her apparent love for him. It wasn't until they were ambushed at the bridge by the Marcus brothers that he realized the extent of love she had for him.

Link Meir smiled solemnly as he remembered foolishly leaving his carriage, doing anything he could to save Charlotte Elbourne even though he might as well burn to death under the sun's rays. He would go through Hell's flames if only to save Charlotte. What he didn't expect was Charlotte fighting with all her strength to get her captor to relinquish his grip before running to him and embracing him tightly.

He remembered how she clung so desperately at his pauldrons while placing his head on her breast. She would protect him. Charlotte loved him so much that she would put her body in harm's path just so that he would not get hurt any further. All the while making it very clear that his death would bring about her own. Just like him life no longer had any meaning for her. The only one who gave life meaning for her was Link Meir and for the vampire the human woman did the same thing for him.

It was a fool's errand truth be told. How long could he hope to experience such bliss even if they succeeded? A century at most? To a vampire that is hardly anytime at all. Why go through so much just to assure yourself a fleeing moment of bliss before crashing down and realizing that the only thing that gave life meaning was now dead? What point was there in living afterwards?

There was no point.

Link Meir knew this and yet he still allowed himself to fall for this human woman. For once he wanted the days to have meaning once more. He wanted someone whom he could share these precious days to. A person who could understand him.

No one understood him. No vampire did and certainly not humans.

Except that one woman.

If he could experience Heaven in a mere blink of an eye then he would do it even if his life was nothing more than a Hellish receptacle for all his pain and anguish. He was willing to suffer the consequences of his actions. Just for once he wanted to know what it meant to finally live.

Despite everything Fate turned against him. Charlotte was killed, betrayed by Carmilla. It was at that point that Link Meir had lost faith in everything. He couldn't trust humans and now he couldn't even trust his own kind. Carmilla was the evil witch that ended the only thing Link Meir held dear to his heart. In a way part of Link Meir died when Charlotte was taken from him. It did not surprise him that the dampiel managed to vanquish Carmilla and he was called to do battle.

Yet Link Meir did not care anymore. It didn't matter whether he won this fight or not. What consolation was it to him to end the vampire hunter's life when it came at the cost of Charlotte's life? The answer was that it wasn't any consolation at all. In a way Link Meir wanted to die that day. Committing suicide would be considered cowardice especially if done for a mere human but if he fell in battle then he could rejoin with Charlotte once more in the afterlife and, at least, die an honorable death.

What Link Meir did not understand was the bounty hunter sparing him. It didn't matter. Charlotte was dead and if he was to make his way to the City of the Night all alone then so be it. Vampires were all but extinct on this tired planet already. Most of them had already died over the course of history.

Link Meir felt no relief as the spaceship exited Earth's gravity. In fact the vampire would only suffer more pain and heartache for as he finally made his way to the City of the Night he found it to be destroyed.

No one knew what caused this. Humans on earth could remember a spectacular meteor shower, the most stunning ever seen, at least the very ancient ones. It was an event that took place over a century ago. Link Meir had missed the spectacle not considering it worth his notice.

Now Link Meir wished that he had known. Everything that he had ever known had been a lie. What was supposed to be a paradise for Vampires was suddenly blown apart. It was then that it truly hit Link Meir just how doomed their race really was. There was literally no where they could live on without angering some sort of entity or cosmic force. Were they so hated that they were to be exterminated no matter where they went? Did both Humans and the Gods truly detest their existence so very much? As to squander any and every attempt to survive.

In some way Link Meir could feel some consolation from the death of Charlotte. At least she died believing there was a paradise out there for them when there was nothing more but forgotten ruins.

The spaceship landed at the center of the ancient city, right at the center of the Aristarchus Plateau. All around the area were the remains of a civilization long since dead. In this perpetual twilight out stepped Link Meir his body instantly adapting to the vacuum of space. It was there that he wandered, coming to terms with the fact that he very well could be the last of his species.

He had been a fool.

How could he have possibly believed that this city, had it still existed, would be refuge for them? Charlotte wouldn't have even been able to survive in the environment much less be accepted to their society. The other vampires would try to kill her even if he managed to keep her alive.

So Link Meir wandered alone until he suddenly saw a figure at the distance. The bluish glow of Earth's shadow cast itself over her giving the petite figure a menacing glow. Link Meir figured that perhaps he was finally going mad with solitude but he was so desperate for company that he could not ignore the figure. So he made his way over to her with a furious gate. He would not dare lose her lest his mind finally convince him that he was, indeed, going crazy.

When he finally got to her he placed his hand on her shoulder and was already half-expecting the figure to simply vanish from his sight. Imagine his surprise when he felt flesh and blood underneath his calloused fingertips. Seeing that she was real Link Meir took the time to look at her.

She looked young, with flowing pink hair that came down to her feet. Her eyes were diamond shape, the corneas a blood red. She looked small and frail but yet Link Meir took some caution. He knew that this woman, whoever she was, wasn't as young as she tried to make him believe.

"Am I still dreaming? Have the years of anguish finally come to pass and my beloved has come to me at last?" asked the woman.

"Nay. I am but a stranger who had escaped the planet below us. I had come seeking the City of the Night and yet find it in ruin. A tragic disappointment." replied Link Meir.

The pink haired woman raised an eyebrow when she heard him respond. She got the feeling that he wasn't being entirely truthful.

"The anguish I see in your eyes isn't solely reserved for finding Paradise nothing more than a lie. It is deeper than that. For whatever reason I...know what you're going through."

Link Meir was not expecting this and jumped back. He hardly met this woman and already she was proclaiming that she could relate to him. What a stupid fool!

"I am not in need of your pity! You speak those words casually without any thought. How could you possibly know of my anguish? To see the one thing that finally gave your life meaning, that it gave joy, love and HAPPINESS taken cruelly away from your hands! I stood there bound hand and foot as the woman whom I had come to cherish is violently murdered before my eyes! And you would say that you comprehend my pain and even insult me so much as to PITY me?"

The younger looking vampire woman did not look phased by Link Meir's outburst. She regarded him with eyes full of regret and understanding.

"I told her. I told her so many times that love between a Human and a Vampire would only lead to tragedy. Why is it that they never listened?" said the pink haired woman mournfully before turning to Link Meir.

"I so presume to know your pain because I suffered and more! I too have watched the love of my life turn on me, take my life in a wicked act of betrayal! That all trust I had in humanity was destroyed within moments! I'm sure you know how it feels to love someone so much that you would do anything for them! At the very least the one you cherished died loving you! What I wouldn't give to have your happy ending! The love of my life tried to kill me! Because he couldn't escape from the narrow minded curse that plagues all of human kind! Can you believe how much that hurt me? To know that this human's apparent love for me was not enough to curtail the prejudices incocated into him since his infancy?"

The young looking woman seemed to be panting from her outburst. Link Meir, having heard the young vampire's story, found his eyes suddenly widening in shock. It couldn't be!

"Y-You wouldn't be Elda Marker?"

Elda cast her head down as she closed her eyes.

"Elda. Now that is a name I haven't heard in centuries. You know that I once had a family? Yet my son was far too lenient towards humans. A fool, as I have told him so many times, and yet it was his undoing. He just couldn't see just how hopeless to change humanity. My grandchildren, Ren, Anju and Karin had all fallen in love with humans. They bore hybrid monstrosities that had no place in the world. Ostracized by humanity and sentenced to death in vampire society these children would become the undoing of all my grandchildren. They died and withered away the moment their human spouses died. They would rather die than live life without the humans they had briefly felt bliss from. The death of my children meant the death of my daughter in law, who could not bear the anguish. My son tried to stay alive. He tried but ultimately failed. Not more than two centuries after the death of his children he finally passed on. So here I am, a relic of a dead house, still alive and breathing. Why haven't I try to kill myself? I have no idea. Maybe I was waiting for a sign."

The male vampire took all of this silently. Now that the revelation of Elda and her ancestry was out of the way Link Meir was able to compose himself and listen to Elda's story in full. He growled slightly knowing that this seemingly feeble looking vampire had managed to hold her own in a war of words with him.

"I apologize for presuming too much of you my lady. However if you are looking for a sign then I am of no use to you. I am just a sad soul waiting for the end. Nobody can replace Charlotte. And the worst part is that I'm sure I will never see her again even when I die. She will go to a place I can never reach. I will burn in Hell, having the flames lick my body raw and yet still remember how it felt to happy. That all I had to do was recollect that minuscule amount of time we have spent together and I would shoulder the burden of eternal damnation just fine. Imagine what joys I could derive if only I had her for the entirety of her natural life-span? Perhaps humans die too soon but I will say this much. Spending every day with a human brings about something new. Days now have meaning. My life had meaning. I see Charlotte and see the potential, the small, tiny possibility that humanity can break their chains. That they can finally relinquish all the prejudice and hate. That we, as a species, could peacefully coexist with them and be free to love whomever we wanted! Alas...it was never meant to be. We are the last of our species and only now does humanity seem to realize their foolishness. What a cruel farce. That we are bear witness to the beginnings of human enlightenment and yet we are not going to be around to enjoy it." said Link Meir sadly.

The pink haired woman latched herself to the taller vampire before her. Link Meir did not recoil from the embrace but he did not reciprocate it either.

"I truly envy you if only that she died loving you to the very end. How I wish I could have experienced such joys and die knowing that happiness like that could exist. We are both a sundered race. What could have been is irrelevant now."

"Then what do we do? Continue living a meaningless existence?" asked Link Meir mournfully.

Elda embraced the bigger vampire tighter. Again Link Meir did not return the embrace.

"We do not have to make it meaningless. I have waited for so long for a sign and now you're here. I...I may not be the one you love nor am I capable of having children now. Our species is doomed to extinction. But at the very least we can make a new life out here with nobody else but us and the stars above us." whispered Elda.

Link Meir knew that this vampire woman was trying to do. Already he could feel his body stiffening, his limbs becoming unresponsive. He knew she had cast some spell to bind him, had been aware of it for quite some time. Yet he did not fight her. Was it because it was pointless? Perhaps. However if he killed her then he would be all alone on this lifeless rock, his species doomed to die all alone in the dark void.

Prolonging the inevitable was also foolhardy. There would come a time when they would soon go crazy. The woman was fooling herself. She didn't love him and he, in turn, didn't love her. They simply were the last of a legacy. Two vampires who had dared to forsake the laws of the world and fell in love with a human. For that Fate damned them eternally, done everything it could to cause as much pain and anguish on them.

Neither were left with anything to live for and now Fate expected the two of them to accept each other by virtue of their sorrows alone? All that did was create more sorrow. Instead of being burdened with your own anguish now you were forced to bear the weight of the other as well.

Link Meir felt no comfort as Elda held him in her arms. This was a ruse, an act of desperation by a vampire woman who had been alone for so long that she was now desperate for any company. The saddest part of all this was the fact that Link Meir would let her. He would accept this farce if only to remind him that he was still capable of breathing.

It was desperate and it was foolish. Nothing would come of delaying the day of their doom.

But as Elda started to close in for a kiss Link Meir did not resist. He only closed his eyes and accepted the inevitable just as he had done all his life.

He could not help but think that Charlotte was crying at this very moment.

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Author's Note: Very weird one-shot. I had actually finished the Karin anime and then watched Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust movie and I HAD to cross them over lol. Hopefully this made some sense. Hope you all enjoyed it!


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